Wow Kev that's quite an adventure! I'm sorry to hear you had to go through all that. I can kind of understand the situation from their point of view but if they're there to prevent people bringing in weapons etc. then you'd think they'd have to go some sort of training to enable them to recognise what's real and what isn't. Also as these people are supposed to be public servants it sounds like a little customer service training wouldn't have gone amiss either.


That just sums this country up I'm afraid. Everyone's scared but they're not sure what they're supposed to be scared of. I hope they felt really stupid for pulling up a squaddie.

Harry

_________________

http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

Wow, sorry to here about your ordeal Kevin.

Not defending them. but in this day and age of shoe bombs, pop bottle bombs and whatever other unusual home-made weapons they are likely to use, I can understand their initial worries slightly.

_________________
Martin 'Victim' Victory
A86/TQ3.4.49421E3
UKCM 13th Regt. 1st Batt. Freebooters


you can't take the PUNK outa Spunkmeyer

Worried, scared, or not, they're supposed to be professional.

That means any suspect should be treated courteously, and assumed innocent until proven guilty.
The only time that the reverse is true is in a hostage situation where the "bad guys" are known to be present, but haven't been identified.

These guys should have treated Kev with respect - Especially since he was being courteous and co-operative towards them.
And since he's not broken any laws, ( No pun intended, there... ) he definitely should have been apologised to, and his property should have ALL been returned to him in the same condition it was in when he was initially pulled over.

_________________
MSgt, UKCM 42nd Reg., 1st Batt. : Hadrian's Wall. UKCM

Wasteland Workshop
Props, cosplay pieces, upcycled ornamentation, and miscellanea;
For the discerning survivor of the apocalypse.
Steve Fletcher : Maker, Scavenger, and Junksmith.
linktr.ee/wastelandworkshop

I have a large place in Texas, and a truck... anything you out of country folks need stored, and taken to Dragon you let me know

*mourning the death of the PIG*

_________________
"Chief Bartender for the Naughty Corner Bar"

Carpe Crustulum!! (seize the cookie!!)

Friggin idiots. I had something similar happen to me. I had ordered a resin kit for one of my luft 1946 flying wing kits from unicraft in the ukraine. This kit was a 1/72 scale kit of german atomic bombs. Checked the mail one day there was a note to go to the main post office and see the postal inspector in regards to a package. I show up, I'm basically shuffled into this jerks office and sit there wondering what the hell was going on. He shows up with two plainclothes douchebags who never identified themselves and puts a package on his desk all wrapped in twine and written on the little inspection form in english identifying the package as atomic bomb parts.
I start laughing my ass off which was the wrong thing to do. Thing one and thing two werent amused, so I told them go ahead open it if it was radioactive then you guys futched up letting it get this far. Four little resin atomic bombs, way to go postal piggies! No apology no nothing, they took the friggin kit and was told after further inspection it would be returned to me. I did get it back but it shows you how brainless some overzealous jackasses are.

Real sorry about the PIG and damn sorry the way they treated you.

Enzo

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If you can't eat it, drink it, smoke it or jump it....RUN!!!

What Harry said is exactly the point I was trying to make. Protecting a national border is justification for a little paranoia, sure, I'll give you that - however it does not exempt you from accountability for your actions, or the responsibility to treat visitors to our country with respect and just plain common courtesy. That applies to a government or an agency of a government even more than it does to individual people.

The border guards who handled Kevin's case seem to have forgotten that they're more than just sentries, they're also the first ambassadors of the U.S. government a lot of people will ever see. That kind of first impression is a big responsibility.

This whole thing reminds me of a line from "The Hurt Locker," after a presumably innocent Iraqi citizen gets harassed by American soldiers over what turns out to be nothing: "Well, if he wasn't an insurgent before, he sure is one now." Not that that applies to Kevin, but you get the point.

One of the biggest things drilled into military members when they go abroad is to remember that they are direct representatives of the United States, and that their actions can directly impact foreign opinion of our country. I guess Mr. I'm In The Military must have slept through that particular brief.

_________________

CPL Sean Maio A01/TQ2.0.72156E1
Public Relations Division (Temporary Cross-Assignment)
M-56 Smartgun Operator, A/3Btn, II CMEF, USS Sephora

Sad state of affairs, but even back in 2000 prior to the latest 'ZOMG TERRORZ' mince we were always told never to travel in uniform for any reason, and never to carry any military style bags or kit etc. openly / uncovered in public. The reason given was to protect both yourself and your associates from becoming targets for a kicking or worse, from either 'domestic' terrorists (IRA etc.) or civvys.

Always made me feel jealous of our state-side cousins who told us that generally they could not only wander around in uniform in their own country freely, but were usually treated very well by the local populace when doing so.

I would have demanded that they destroy it in front of you. Would have been heartbreaking but it would insure that it wasnt smuggled home by one of these idiots.

Of course if it was me flapping my gums it would have got me busted and sent to gitmo on a rendition flight or wherever they send unsavory types like myself now (2 seats please my kenworth butt is loaded with explosive gas)

You did the right thing kevin, but what was done to you was not justified at all. I don't care it shows how this country is just plain going to hell. Nothing is done about our southern border but OMG them there canucks they are just out to destroy our way of life and must be stopped and searched at every opportunity. God bless our overzealous northern border security saving us from the godless Canadian heathen crossing our border with prop weaponry!! Good thing you didnt have a pantomime horse costume, they might have sent you to a glue factory.

Enzo

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If you can't eat it, drink it, smoke it or jump it....RUN!!!

can't breathe... laughing-too-hard

_________________
"Chief Bartender for the Naughty Corner Bar"

Carpe Crustulum!! (seize the cookie!!)

woah horror story...

i feel with you!
RIP PIG

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NO BRAIN NO PAIN

Try flying with all of your stuff:(
My story ended pretty happily, but same thing. It is pretty tense for a while. They are watching you for any twitch or sudden movement while they start pulling things out.
Funny part was they took my gear in a back room and just made me wait. At one time the door opened up and all the guys were playing Aliens in the back room; shooting each other, pretending to have the face hugger attached...

Sorry about the whole deal. Excited to see what you build next;)

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No, they are not going to see this coming...

Can your gear be sent by UPS to the hotel? FNG said he did that once or twice. He said all his stuff got rifled thru once by the TSA broke some stuff and once was enough for him. Better to pay the hotel a fee to store it than go thru this nightmare again.

Enzo

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If you can't eat it, drink it, smoke it or jump it....RUN!!!

Oh I'm sure it's going to be a trophy on the wall for a while.




The problem is that it would still have to go through customs, however it might stand a better chance with UPS than say the regular postal service or of course bringing it myself.


As for new projects- I'm going to take a break from propmaking.

Some work needs to be done around the house. Especially the main bathroom. Started getting what I need for it today.






Kevin

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Harry

_________________

http://www.facebook.com/TheHHACA - @TheHHACA

Not to sidetrack the thread, but I felt the need to comment on this. Bringing soil into the US is prohibited under US Customs regulations unless accompanied by a permit. Sand, soil, rocks of any kind. Plants or plant materials. Fruits and vegetables. Animals or animal parts. Etc, etc, etc.

If you ever deploy to the middle east they will recite a speech to you at least two (and usually up to four) times before you pass through customs just to make sure you have no excuse when they take items from you. I also would caution you from trying to bring back maps, pictures of equipment, live rounds, shell fragments, spent brass, knives over 4 inches (unless issued), automatic knives (unless issued), and any martial arts style or replica (airsoft style) weapons as these are all prohibited under General Order 1B.

And while I understood that your travel was in the US, the sand was from Iwo Jima (which is now considered a foreign country) thus making you guilty of possession of a restricted item. Your vial of sand can be confiscated by officials during travel.

Take my advice, put the sand away.

_________________

Kevin, did you have any kind of customs notice in your baggage stating that the item was a
movie prop/costume item/etc. and unable to cause harm?

There must be a loophole statute someplace that we can start printing off like the airsoft
guys do to import airsoft products into the USA.

Another thing to do might be to include photo copies and bibliography listings from the
Aliens technical manual, with the apppropriate sections highlighted in yellow marker.

Hell, I may just start working on this myself.

I know I already told you at the con, but I apologise as a citizen of the United States for the way you
were treated.

Need anything to help rebuilding (parts/etc.) let me know. If I can help I will.

Russ

_________________
"A writer needs a pen, a painter a brush, and a filmmaker an army." - Orson Wells.

http://www.rookscastle.com
http://www.alchemyarms.com

Not with my bags itself- but in the front seat of my car I had a folder with my hotel itinerary, my Map Quest directions, a couple of pages from the Tech Manual (which included the picture and fictional destription of the PIG and the pic of Doug McCarthy in armour) and a couple of pages of various pictures of myself in my armour (with and without the PIG) taken at Dragon Con- such as the pic of me giving the "knock out punch" to the Alien:




I've always had these pages with me (in various forms) since 2005 just in case something like this ever happened. For all I know it may have allieviated things, or at least corroborated my story that I'm just a harmless costumer. I'm sure they called the Marriott and probably Googled Dragon Con too.

Still sucks they wouldn't give me the option to deliver the PIG back to my home. However thinking about this...

I had already entered the borders of the United States when I crossed the Ambassador Bridge. In essence I had exported the PIG out of Canada by that point. Shipping it back into Canada by the mail system may have proved harder than we all might like to believe. Replica weapons such as firearms are legal to own but are prohibited for importation in Canada. It clearly states on the RCMP website that if you remove a replica firearm from Canada, you will not be allowed to bring it back in.

Now nowhere does it mention anything about "bazooka-like" replicas. It's pretty much things like firearms, bombs, grenades, and other generally scary stuff. However the PIG still looks the business enough that I certainly wouldn't walk down the street with it believing this couldn't start a riot (at least outside the context of a sci-fi/costume convention).

More than likely if this was sent through the mail system even with it being plastic, even with it not resembling any current or past "rocket launcher" device, and having a description of a prop, it would still require a gigantic box that would just be begging for inspection. I doubt it would be allowable, but that's just the "they're all out to get me" paranoia in me thinking.


Kevin

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

How close are you to the border? Can you rent a small storage unit this side of the border? Or does that require an infinite amount of certificates-of-big-brother-may-I?

Enzo

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If you can't eat it, drink it, smoke it or jump it....RUN!!!

Oh man I didn't know this happened until I read your post! :O

Dude I'm so sorry for what you went through, not just for what they took from you (your props) and the crap they pulled in trying to take from you (your dignity) - I am embarrassed that the people you dealt with were ever given any authority in their lives.

I don't know what to say other than I'll try to scrounge some funds to add to the recovery efforts.

_________________
Sid, that Jayne Cobb (Firefly) & Snake-Eyes (GIJoe) costumer & member of
"Baldwin's Badasses" UAS MacDonald - A07/TQ1.0.12147E1 Rank PFC

i woulda wore civvys but i was literally going from home straight to base and then straight off in the landy off on exercise so wasnt anytime to get changed along the way, so it was 30 min dash on the train to where i needed to be grab lift and get off.
also we was always told uniform in public is at troop oc's disscretion and he doesnt mind us doing it

_________________
I'm the one they warned you about

The only con Ive been to that required travel via a security controlled method was when Scape and I went to May Expo this year. The levels of bureaucracy and paranoia vary wildly, even when both departure airports use the same laws:

Going down Scape informed the girl at check in that there were prop weapons in the case. No hassle, just put through a different scanner so that the guy on the x-ray knew they were props.

Coming back they made him haul out the broken shottie and VP70, demanded papers that dont exist, and called all manner of supervisors.

Madness.

Madness?

_________________
MSgt Samantha 'Boltie' Watters
Chief Medical Officer, UKCM
1st Batt. 42nd Regiment - Hadrian's Wall

Area 52 Bioweapons division - Amber T. Alien


"Harsh"

well my pulse rifle armour and uniform are all going in a plain black duffel bag to the expo and get geared up there once hooked up with everyone else

_________________
I'm the one they warned you about

Well I already have a Koba VP70 that resides in Atlanta GA.

If I had to ship some plumbing parts down there I'm sure I could.


Kevin

_________________
I told you I'd shoot, but you didn't believe me! WHY DIDN'T YOU BELIEVE ME!?!

Kevin, I talked to you at the Con, but I didn't mention one thing: for once, I am ashamed of my country.

I'm so sorry.

HUMVEE Driver

I know I feel safer now

_________________
Rob Slater
A08/TQ2.0.42136E1